Well, it looks like the wet season in Houston is still going to be around for the foreseeable future (well, weather.com’s 10-day forecast anyway) and my ever-so-lovely weakened back is giving me fits, so I figure I might as well take a deeper look at some new developments in space science while I have this down time.
So where do we start? How about a way to get to Mars in only 39 days? The stuff of science fiction is finally becoming science fact with the successful ground based testing of the first plasma drive. VASMIR (or Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) is a remarkable new propulsion technology developed by the Ad Astra Rocket Company located right her in our backyard in Webster, TX. Building on the existing mountain of research in to replicating, and containing, the power source behind the stars themselves: nuclear fusion.
So how does it work? Since my formal schooling is geared towards programming and math, I haven't the foggiest about the details; however, overall it works like something like this: Radio waves are used to ionize and heat-up a gas propellant which is then channeled as thrust by a magnetic field which also protects the engine from the extreme heat of the plasma... which is about the temperature of the core of our sun. I am not 100% certain, but I believe from the snippets I have read that the propellant used in this engine is hydrogen since it is A) the most abundant element in our universe and B) packs the most "bang" for the buck since it requires less energy than more complex elements would for the same energy expenditure... but any gas seems like it would do.
When compared to traditional propellants used in our current forays in to space, Plasma would win the race in a classic turtle vs. hare scenario. Less fuel used efficiently over a longer period of time would simply accelerate beyond what a normal quick burn of tremendous amounts of current fuels could ever achieve without packing tens of thousands of tons for a journey to mars. This allows for the ship to carry a smaller amount of fuel for long journeys and conserve space on the design of such a craft. While these are definite advantages over current technology, there are a few things to consider before simply "flipping the switch" to this technology.
The biggest issue with the "long burn" of a plasma engine is that it requires power to create the magnetic field and ionize the gas propellant. Solar panels could generate the required energy for short journeys; however, for the advantage of distance to be capitalized on, a portable power source such as a trash-bin sized nuclear reactor would be needed for a journey of any note from the sun. In addition, the rabbit has the advantage of being able to escape the atmosphere of earth whereas the large plasma engine would not be able to provide enough initial ‘oomph’ to escape earths gravity. This could be overcome by assembling the plasma ship in space and launching it from earth orbit, the moon, or the ISS; however, we simply do not have the facilities to perform such a build at present.
Currently, the engine has achieved the output target scientists have hoped to reach during ground based testing. The next step will be a trial-run on the ISS some time in 2013 (note: this will happen; I am not going to get in to the bogus hype about 2012 doomsday predictions which are consuming valuable time on an otherwise decent network: The History Channel). With our solar neighbors now within technological reach... why should we go foreword with their manned exploration? We'll get in to that tomorrow on the blog. For now, congrats to the Ad Astra team and I will be waiting to hear that our stellar neighbors are within a fortnights reach ;)
Sources:
Ad Astra Rocket Company
Wikipedia.com
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